December 2, 1994

On any other occasion, Faith would have found it amusing to find her and her sister dressed the same. Though they were identical the two rarely dressed in similar clothes, with Dani preferring dresses and Faith enjoying jeans.

Today Faith was the one suffering, joining her sister in the realm of dresses.

They both wore black dresses, with shiny black shoes and clean white stockings. Dani still had the black bow tied in her hair; Faith had pulled hers out the moment the Social Services woman, Brenda, hadn't been looking. She was a twelve year old girl, not a Barbie doll.

Brenda had been the one who had dressed them up, driven them to the church, sat with them in the front pew, and stood with them as the box was lowered. She had then loaded the girls into her car and driven them back to the small government building she worked at, where Dani and Faith had been instructed to sit on one of the benches in the back room and wait quietly.

After three minutes of Dani loudly banging her feet against the bench in boredom Faith had gotten the girl's sketchbook and pencil out of one of the bags leaning against the wall next to the plastic plant. A plastic plant that, to Faith, still managed to look wilted.

Dani hadn't been in the mood to draw anything, instead she had set about colouring the whole page black.

Sometime later Brenda had entered the room again. Brenda was an older woman, with a beak-like nose, grey-blonde hair, and a pinched expression. Faith had tried very hard not to grimace whenever Brenda smiled at them, because it kept looking like she was sucking on a lemon.

"Isabel, Daniela, this is Mrs. Slide."

Both girls looked up at the woman who followed Brenda into the small room. The first word that came to Faith's mind when looking at this woman was tired. She had messy, flat, brown hair, dull brown eyes, a faded coat, scuffed up shoes and a bland expression on her face.

"Girls, Mrs. Slide will be your new foster parent. Everything has been arranged, Mrs. Slide will be taking you to your new home now."

This had already been explained to the twins. Brenda had sat them down and explained how, now that their mother was dead, they would be living with a new family, seeing as how Lara hadn't had any living relatives or a record of who their father had been. This new family would be looking after them. They would have a new bedroom, a new school, and would be living in a different part of the city.

Mrs. Slide didn't smile at the girls. She looked at them as if she were at the grocery store and choosing between two tomatoes, and turned back to Brenda and murmured a few quick words. Then she looked at Faith and Dani again, nodded at them, grunted, "Let's go, then," and grabbed the two small bags of their belongings.

The girls quickly slipped into their coats, Faith mumbled a "bye" to Brenda, and they followed Mrs. Sidle out of the building. Dani was clutching her sketchbook tightly to her chest and frowning deeply. She hadn't spoken all day. Even when she and Faith were alone, she'd only scowled at the older girl whenever she tried talking to her.

Mrs. Slide led them to her rundown looking car and tossed their bags into the trunk. "Let me put that in the back with the rest of your stuff," she said, glancing at the book in Dani's hands.

The small girl held the book tighter and glared at her, "No."

Faith was wary about the woman. She hadn't done anything to make Faith mistrust her, but she wasn't very smiley or welcoming either. And the sketchbook had been the only personal item Dani had been allowed to take when Brenda took them to their old home for the last time, everything in the two bags were just clothes and a few school items. Faith hadn't felt the need to take any of her comic books; they were fun for her to read, but she didn't have any real attachment to them. She didn't have an attachment to any object in their old house, really. She'd never had a favourite stuffed animal or toy.

But the sketchbooks had become Dani's lifeline after her accident. The woman casually asking to take it away was easily something that would upset Dani; it was the only real thing that was hers.

The woman signed in annoyance but didn't bother to argue. "Fine, get in the car then."

During the car ride to the new house Faith tugged and fidgeted with the dress. She wasn't a dress person. The stockings were itchy and her legs were cold. She looked out the window, watching familiar streets give way to unfamiliar ones.

Dani, who was sitting behind their new foster parent, was absolutely still and staring at the back of the driver's seat.

Mrs. Slide looked in the rear-view mirror, making eye contact with Faith. "Which one of you is which?"

"She's Daniela. I'm… Isabel." She didn't like being addressed by her first name, but assumed the woman wouldn't take her request of being called by her middle name.

"Right," said Mrs. Slide. "She always carry that book around?"

"She likes to draw," Faith said slowly.

The woman nodded, uninterested. "My husband and I foster six other children; you two will be sharing a room with the two girls. Dinner is at six every night, bed at eight thirty. Breakfast is at seven; you both start at the local Catholic school on Monday."

"We've never been to a Catholic school."

"Well that's where you're registered. We'll get your uniforms tomorrow afternoon so you're ready the next day."

A uniform? Faith had never been to a school with uniforms before.

That would mean skirts, wouldn't it?

She tried to hide her frown. Today was Saturday, which meant they only had one day to prepare for the idea of going to a Catholic school.

Lara had prayed to God a lot when she was having sex with her men friends at night, would that count as them being Catholic?

Yeah, probably not.

Pulling into the driveway of the house Faith was a little surprised. For one, it was an actual house; Faith had only ever lived in apartments and the brownstones of downtown Boston. She'd never lived in a real house with a real front lawn.

The house, like Mrs. Slide, was tired looking. The grass was overrun, both with weeds and children's toys. The porch looked a little rickety, and the other car parked in the driveway had two punctured tires.

The woman led them into the house where they were immediately met by a cacophony of noise. A small boy was sitting on the floor beating an assortment of plastic buckets and kitchen pots with a tree branch, and the sounds of multiple arguments could be heard further into the house.

"Your room is upstairs, last on the right," Mrs. Slide said before walking off into what Faith assumed would be the kitchen.

No welcome, no tour, no 'would you like help unpacking your things?' Not even a list of rules they had to follow.

"This is going to be so much fun," Faith said through gritted teeth. "Come on, Dan." She led her sister past the pot-beating child and up the stairs. The room was easy enough to find; there was even a piece of paper with a hastily written 'girl's' on it across from two labelled as 'boys'. "Guess this is our stop."

Walking in, they found a moderately decorated room. Cream coloured walls, a bunk-bed against both of the side walls, and a desk against the far wall under the only window. Of the set of beds on the right, one had a very expensive looking China doll sitting on the pillow, the other a few stuffed animals amidst the unmade sheets. The two beds on the left were untouched.

"Which do you want, top or bottom?"

Dani didn't answer, just sighed unhappily.

"Okay, how about you take the top and I take the bottom then?" Her sister smiled sadly at her but didn't vocalize an objection.

"Are you the new girls?" The twins turned at the source of the voice. A young girl in a rich pink dress and blonde ringlets addressed them as she entered the room. She couldn't be older than seven.

"Uh, hey."

The blonde girl was looking them up and down, "Mmm. Nice dresses," she said with quite visible distain for such a small child.

Snob. "Thanks," Faith said with faux-sincerity.

"I'm Lavinia Worthington," she pointed to the doll on her bed, which looked like a Carbon-copy of herself, "And that's Lottie."

"This is Daniela. I'm," she frowned when she said her full name, "Isabel."

"I'm Mary," said a mousey looking girl leaning in the doorframe. She was larger set, with messy brown hair and rather large brown eyes. "I'm eleven. I've been here three months. My bed's the top one." She spoke very fast. "You two are twins, aren't you? I've never met twins before. Which one of you is older? Are you going to be starting school with us? What grade will you be in, do you know?"

Lavinia scowled at her, "It's rude to ask so many questions. Go and see if Mrs. Slide has supper ready." The mousey girl did as she was told, as if taking orders from someone younger than her was something she was used to.

"She gets excited," the snobby girl said, sitting down on her bed. "She's never lived with other children before. And I don't think her parents exactly disciplined her, they spent too much time bruising each other to worry about her."

"Right," Faith said uncomfortably. She had no idea why this girl was in foster care, as she clearly had a proper upbringing, but already Faith didn't like her. "But you have?"

"Have what?"

"Lived with other kids before?"

The girl nodded politely, "My big brother Timothy, he's here too. He's sixteen. You'll meet him soon, he likes to give a proper introduction to all the new foster children," she smiled wickedly before continuing, "And you'll meet the other boys at dinner. Oh," her face fell as she looked at Dani, "You might want to," she touched her cheek, "There's dirt on your face."

Dani didn't say anything.

"She isn't very talkative."

"Just don't wanna talk to you."

Lavinia's eyebrows arched, "Well isn't that a nice thing to say."

"Leave her alone, she's had a rough day."

"Oh, did your mother abandon you for her cocaine addiction?"

It took all the force Faith could muster to keep from throwing herself at the other girl in rage. "Faith, no," Dani whispered, grasping the older girl's hand.

"Are you always a bitch, or is it just 'cause we're new?"

"You shouldn't speak to me that way," the girl seethed.

"Yeah?"

"Just because you're new doesn't mean you'll get any special treatment. There would be no hesitation to punish saucy girls like you here."

"The Mrs. didn't look exactly like the belt strap type."

"I didn't mean Mrs. Slide. Mr. Slide works at a factory, he's got a nice big belt I bet he'd love to try on you."